FIELD TRIP OF DREAMS

After having a great time in Tampa with
Uncle Norman, I headed out early to take the 5-hour drive down to
Miami. The good part about this stop was that I had some extra
lodging perks. Kathy Casper of the Wyndham Hotel chain arranged for
me to have a hotel room at the Wyndham Bonaventure Resort & Spa in
Ft Lauderdale. This was the 2nd of two hotels (San Juan,
Puerto Rico was the other one) they arranged for my lodging to
promote on my trip. This was a beautiful hotel resort. They gave me
a suite and a bottle of wine (which would end up getting me in
trouble later on), so they did treat me well and I would definitely
go back there. Thank you again.

As usual, I headed to the
stadium early to take my walk around the outside for my “outside-in”
perspective. All I kept thinking on my walk around was that I was
about to go see a football game instead of a baseball game. The
stadium is rectangular with the spiral staircases on the outside
that remind me more of Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands than any
baseball stadium. I got even more of that feeling when I stumbled
upon the Dan Marino and Don Shula statues to honor those two Dolphin
greats. The only way to know that there is baseball played here
from the outside was the relatively small writing under the Giant
Pro Player Stadium Sign indicating, “Home of the Miami Dolphins and
Florida Marlins” and baseball got second billing as well.

I guess the
football 1st observation does make sense, considering
that Joe Robbie (Dolphins Founder) built the stadium for the Miami
Dolphins in 1987. However, the stadium was built wider than a
typical football-only stadium, to allow for the possibility of
baseball in the future. The stadium was originally named Joe Robbie
Stadium in honor of the team’s founder. Wayne Huizenga, the owner
of Blockbuster Video, purchased 50% of the Stadium and led the
charge to bring Major League Baseball to Miami. His charge was
successful in bringing the Florida Marlins to the National League
for the start of the 1993 season. 1n 1994, he purchased the
remaining 50% of the stadium to gain full control, of which he used
to sell naming rights to Pro Player. Therefore, the name changed to
Pro Player Park in 1996 and then to Pro Player Stadium in 1996.

When it came time
for me to enter this football palace, I picked up the tickets that
were left for me from the team, and when I did, the gentleman at the
ticket window looked at me funny and asked who I knew to get such
great tickets. The tickets they gave me were actually for any game
the Founders section, which is a pretty big deal. Since I only
needed one ticket today, I saved one for later in the season. My
next task was to get into the stadium, which wasn’t as easy as I
would have hoped. Security would not let me into the stadium with
my backpack, even thought it was completely clear, meaning there is
nothing that could be hidden inside. This was very annoying,
because now I had to carry my notebook, scorecard and camera in my
hands via a simple juggling act, but I survived.

Once I walked in, I
was happy to see the display of the Marlins 1997 championship
season, including the Championship trophy. I was definitely happy
to find some evidence of baseball. Then I walked in to see the
orange (and some teal) seats throughout the stadium, which are not
surprisingly the colors of the Dolphins. At least the Marlins wear
teal too. The Marlins have not been around long enough for retired
numbers, but the Dolphins have been around long enough, so their
retired numbers are proudly displayed around the rim of the upper
level. The Dolphins biggest star, Dan Marino, has his statistics
displayed on the upper deck façade. The Marlins, at least,
have
their 1997 Championship banner prominently displayed down the left
field line near my favorite part of the stadium. That is the huge
out-of-town scoreboard on the high left field wall, which is in
play. AL scores on the left, NL scores on the right, with the
team’s lineups and a clock in the middle. I think they get that
baseball part down right. Even though it is electronic, it has that
old-stadium style that I like.

Luckily, for me,
the weather was nice today. Since we are in Miami, it could be very
hot and/or raining, considering it rains all the time here. The
interesting part of that is that the team expects plenty of rain
delays and has prepared entertainment for the fans in case it does.
The 100 level between 1st and 3rd bases offers
plenty of distractions. The first option for fans is to head over
to the photo booth to take a picture with team mascot, Billy the
Marlin. You can also test your arm by heading to the speed pitch
booth. There is baseball video bingo, a karaoke station, a baseball
trivia putt putt contest (the more questions you answer correctly,
the more putts you get to win a prize) and a single-elimination
scoreboard trivia contest, where the contestants appear on the two
giant jumbotrons that are behind each end zone. Yup, I said end
zone, because they are there for football. If it is too hot and
sunny instead, and you managed to make your way into the center
field picnic area, you can at least take a dip in the pool.

The ticket the
Marlins gave me was quite good; it was three rows behind the Marlins
dugout, with a great view for the game. This was important,
considering most of the seats are designed to face center field
instead of home plate or the pitcher’s mound. This is, of course,
because center field is the spot where the 50-yard line is located
for football games. I know, I have been harping on the same theme
throughout, but of all the dual-purpose stadiums I have ever been
to, this one, by far, gives you the feel that they squeezed baseball
into a football stadium. The look and strong emphasis on the
Dolphins makes the Marlins and baseball feel unwanted here.

I love baseball, so
I am happy to see a game anywhere, but this stadium does not rank
high for baseball, but it probably would for football. Speaking of
baseball, there is a game today, so let us get to it, after grabbing
some Cuban food from the concession stand first. I do like that
they have captured their community and incorporated the local Cuban
food into the mix, with all the other standard stadium fare.
Unfortunately, not too many other fans seem to be as excited about
the baseball game today as
me, since many of the fans are disguised as empty seats. They even
block off much of the upper deck and do not sell tickets in those
areas, other than for the postseason. The stadium holds about
75,000 for football and only 35,000 for baseball. I know they do
not draw too well here in Miami, but I just do not understand why.
There is a large Cuban population and a large number of Hispanics in
this part of Florida in general. Knowing how popular baseball is in
Cuba and much of Latin America, you would think that they would come
to see the Marlins in droves, but they do not, which I find very
disappointing.

To bring another
football flavor to this stadium, that I find hard to argue with, is
the Marlin Mermaids, who are the team’s cheerleaders. I have not
seen or been aware of any other team having cheerleaders, so this
one is pleasantly unique, especially since they do their routines on
top of the Marlins dugout, which I conveniently was sitting directly
behind. The mermaids were on the dugout while the lineups were
being announced. I also will not complain about the Marlins being
announced while Metallica’s For Whom the Bell Tolls was playing on
the loud speakers. Speaking of the lineup, I had the unique fortune
of attending a game in which the shortstop for both teams was Alex
Gonzalez! Well, actually two different men named Alex Gonzalez.

The game ended up
being not much of a contest. Both teams traded zeros for 3 innings
as Cubs starter Matt Clement and Marlins starter Mark Redman held
the batters in check, in fact, Redman was perfect. The biggest
excitement during the first 3 innings was the fan reaction to Sammy
Sosa. He had a polarized effect, as half the fans booed vigorously
and the other half cheered wildly. The Marlins finally got things
going with two runs in the 4th inning. Pudge Rodriguez
and Juan Encarnacion started off the inning with consecutive
singles. Matt Clement then drilled Derek Lee (the 2nd
batter he hit) to load the bases. Todd Hollandsworth then drove in
Rodriguez and Encarnacion
with a double. Encarnacion singled in Juan Pierre in the 5th
to increase the Marlins lead to 3-0, while Redman continued to mow
down the Cubs. Although, he did end up giving up 4 hits, he did not
allow a run over 7 innings, while striking out 9 Cubs batters
without allowing a base on balls.

The Marlins played
a more traditional Take Me Out to the Ballgame during the 7th
inning stretch, with the exception of the Mermaids dancing on the
dugout again. After that brief interlude, the fireworks began,
literally. After Juan Pierre singled off Cubs reliever Kyle
Farnsworth, stole 2nd and reached 3rd on a
throwing error by Cubs catcher Damian Miller, Juan Encarnacion hit a
2-run homer to ignite the literal fireworks. They set off fireworks
when a Marlins player hits a home run. They had to get the
explosives ready for a second round pretty quickly too, because the
next batter, Derek Lee, homered as well to bring the score to 6-0 in
the Marlins favor. That would turn out to be the final score, as
Ugueth Urbina and Braden Looper each pitched a scoreless inning for
the Marlins to close out the game. Mark Redman and Juan
Encarnacion’s were clearly the stars of the game. Overall, the
Marlins are an exciting team to watch, which again disappoints me
how few fans come to watch them, and on this day, many of those fans
that did show up, were here to see the Cubs and not the Marlins.

Bottom line – This
is a stadium built for football housing a pretty good baseball
team. In spite of the poor design, I had a good time, but to this
point, I would only grade this stadium higher than the Metrodome.